It’s so reassuring when a holier-than-thou “family values” judgmental-type turns out to be human. Rush Limbaugh certainly made my weekend.

The talk radio Bigfoot, after decades of demanding severe penalties for other drug abusers, made a deal with the judge regarding crimes stemming from his own painkiller addiction. Limbaugh’s case will be dropped if he stays on the wagon for the next 18 months.

Republicans don’t have the market cornered on drug abuse. Democrats and liberals certainly have their share of drunks and druggies. The difference is how neither a puffy-faced, hung over Ted Kennedy — nor son Patrick, after tooting snow up his nose as a young man — demanded perfection from others.

Can we expect a contrite Limbaugh to be more understanding of fellow dopers? Probably not. To paraphrase Love Story’s Ali MacGraw and Ryan O’Neal, being Rush means never having to say you’re sorry. Listeners will likely be treated to an evasive “Let’s move forward and not dwell on things that are behind ‘us,’ ” or a convoluted rant about the liberal conspiracy that allegedly put Rush in hot water.

Rush Limbaugh is not and never has been a prophet. He’s not even a very effective political advocate. (This guy pounded Bill Clinton mercilessly, every day for the two terms of his presidency, and for the year preceding his first election to the White House.) Despite Rush’s rhetoric, Bill was elected, twice, by wide margins.

So Limbaugh is no different from any other doper who went before him, whether it was the late Senator Joe McCarthy, a boozer extraordinaire, who tried to put all of Hollywood and half of New York City behind bars, or W in his old snortin’ and drinkin’ days, before he found “religion,” or any number of broadcast and show biz types stuck in the “valley of the dolls,” as writer Jacqueline Susann called it.

Limbaugh is an entertainer, talented at what he does. He has a good voice and a quick enough wit, and he fell into talk radio when Americans were tilting right. The result was one of radio’s biggest cults: at his height, Limbaugh had the monster piece of the national talk radio pie.

Liberal Al Franken, by contrast, challenged conservative radio with an embarrassingly boring and currently moribund network, Air America (R.I.P). Franken, an alumnus of the infamously chemical early Saturday Night Live gang, doesn’t seem a babe in the woods. Matured and cleaned up for the grown-up world of politics, though, Franken put his comedy skills into writing real books, including the best seller, Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot.

Why ‘fairness’ fails Anyone who has ever sampled the auditory sewer that is right-wing talk radio can understand the impulse to reinstate the so-called “fairness doctrine.”

Star crossed Rush Limbaugh, pink cheeked and increasingly porcine, has emerged as the de-facto head of the Republican Party.

Sarah Palin, Inc. Confused commenters have no clue as to the opportunities that await Palin — because few understand the extraordinary, multi-billion-dollar marketplace that has developed for movement conservatives.

Rise of the political bogeyman The Republicans appear headed to a second straight national pummeling, which will leave it marginalized in the federal government and an increasing number of state houses. Many party faithful are already noting the need for the GOP to move back toward the moderate center to survive. But the conservatives with microphones are heading down a very different path — and their followers, who now dominate the Republican Party, are going right with them.

The WRKO shuffle No Boston media institution is more unstable these days than WRKO Radio.

Violet’s rude ouster is a loss for RI Considering Arlene Violet’s 16-year run on talk-radio in Rhode Island, not to mention her unmistakable local accent, the way in which WHJJ (920 AM) abruptly jettisoned her last week came as an unpleasant surprise.

A veteran TV reporter tries something new Months after leaving ABC6, investigative reporter Jim Hummel was chatting about his future over lunch with public relations guru Dante Bellini. Plans to take up with WJAR's news team, long the ratings leader in the Providence market, had evaporated with the downturn in the economy.

FERRARO, A PHOTO, AND A LEGACY | March 30, 2011 Geraldine Ferraro's photograph stands proudly in a silver frame, inscribed to my daughter with the words, "You are my hero."

TWO MURDERS AND AN UNHEEDED CALL | December 29, 2010 When Rhode Islanders mention former Rhode Island Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Fay, they often focus on the scandal that forced him to resign from the bench.

THE DEATH OF IRISH-ITALIAN POLITICAL ENTITLEMENT | September 22, 2010 Angel Taveras may soon be Providence’s first Latino mayor. But his victory in the recent Democratic primary is much more than a triumph of the city’s growing Hispanic population.

RHODE ISLAND’S BIRTH CONTROL CONTRETEMPS | July 07, 2010 Recently OB-GYN Associates, a respected women's health care practice with offices in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, admitted to Rhode Island Department of Health officials that it had implanted in patients birth control intrauterine devices (IUDs) apparently manufactured in Canada and not approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

TURNING IN THAT LOW-NUMBERED PLATE FOR A PINK ONE | May 19, 2010 Low-numbered plates may be Valhalla for Rhode Island’s vainglorious. But they are hard to come by. So for the average driver looking for attention, “vanity” and “special category” plates are the way to go.